Roger Federer will face familiar foe John Millman during third-round action at the Australian Open on Friday. Stefanos Tsitipas, who got a walkover in the second round, will go up against Milos Raonic.
(3) Roger Federer vs. John Millman
It will be a rematch of an infamous–at least for Federer–2018 U.S. Open fourth-round contest when Federer and Millman meet again at the Australian Open on Friday night. Amidst extremely humid conditions that surprisingly took a toll on the Swiss, Millman scored a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(7), 7-6(3) upset in New York. They have, however, squared off once since then. Federer took care of business 7-6(1), 6-3 on the grass courts of Halle last summer to take a 2-1 lead in the head-to-head series.
It has already been an outstanding 2020 campaign for Millman, who compiled a 4-1 record across the ATP Cup and Auckland before kicking things off in Melbourne with victories over Auckland champion Ugo Humbert and a similarly red-hot Hubert Hurkacz. But those opponents sure aren’t Federer, who completely blitzed Steve Johnson and Filip Krajinovic. Lightning is not going to strike twice at a slam for Millman, and he won’t enjoy the same Aussie crowd support against Federer from which he benefited in rounds one and two.
Pick: Federer in 3 losing 11-14 games
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(6) Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. (32) Milos Raonic
Tsitsipas got a walkover from Philipp Kohlschreiber on Wednesday and now he runs into another injury-plagued opponent in the third round. Raonic appears to be healthy at the moment, but he can never be trusted to string together a couple of matches–especially three-out-five–before breaking down. The 35th-ranked Canadian, who lost his Doha opener to Corentin Moutet in straight sets, has defeated Lorenzo Giustino and Christian Garin.
It’s safe to say this marks a massive step up in competition. Tsitsipas is No. 6 in the world, made a run to the Australian Open semifinals last year, and won the Nitto ATP Finals. He opened in Melbourne with a 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 rout of Salvatore Caruso. Tsitsipas will have a huge edge from the back of the court, so unless Raonic delivers one of his best serving displays ever there is hardly any chance of an upset.
Pick Tsitsipas in 4
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Wow. I was certain that Fed was done in that tiebreak. I feel like Rafa had a similar situation against someone last year, where he was down a lot in a tiebreak and stormed back to win many points in a row and win. It’s amazing that these guys are still, after all these years, able to dig so deep when it would be so easy to completely give up. Particularly at age 38- when it’s 4-8 in the match tiebreak, and your whole body and mind is screaming at you because you’re an old man, it must be so easy to just decide it’s not your night and pack it in. Fed actually said in his on-court interview that that thought crossed his mind! But as is usually necessary, he got a little luck combined with not making errors himself, and he got himself that second life. And he took advantage. He had 82- I repeat, 82!- unforced errors in the match, but he managed to not make one during 6 straight points. Due to the fact that Fed has lost some really close matches over the years to Novak or Rafa, it can be easy to forget that he has also won a lot of really tight big matches. He may not have the reputation of being as clutch as Novak and Rafa, but you don’t win 20 majors and have all the other achievements without having to come up big in big moments. My hat’s off to 38 year-old Fed today.
Here’s what I really want to know, though- what the hell is it about John Millman where he’s able to play like a top-5 player when he faces Roger Federer, but ONLY against Roger Federer?? It’s so strange! I know that Millman is known as one of the fittest players on tour, so maybe he’s just a really bad matchup for an old man? I just don’t know. Over the last couple years, Fed has clearly struggled at times against the young, powerful players who have a ton of physical stamina. Millman has the world-class stamina, but he’s not ultra-powerful or anything! His serve isn’t even that fast for a tall guy.
If Fed doesn’t clean up those UE’s, he could struggle a lot with Fucsovics. Fed has won all 5 sets they’ve played against each other, but Fucso played him tough both times. It will interesting to see if tonight was just a fluky performance from Fed, or if it’s a sign of what’s to come.
Fucsovics will not beat Fed….it may be close but Fed will win! He learnt his lessons today, lol!!
Rafa too needs to clean up his act or else bye bye for him!! The big 3 have a target on their backs!!! Watch out!!
Great post.
I’m disappointed that Tsitsipas lost. He’s my dark horse to beat Djoko and even Fed after that, but too bad, now only Cilic or Raonic left, or maybe Schwartzman? But, none of them will beat Djoko imo.
Seems that Rafa’s half of the draw looks the tougher half, as all the seeds are still there.
Are you still picking rafa to beat NK? I am very nervous about this match if it happens…
Have both reached fourth round amy .wait till they reach 🙂
Amy..assuming rafa beats busta..for him to beat kyrgios, thiem, Medvedev back to back is asking a lot
Novak would have been so happy had fed been out..tsitsi,agut,fed all roadblocks would have been eliminated
Yeah I know sanju!
Very difficult draw for Rafa and straightforward one for Nole!
Still don’t want him to lose to bonkers Nk!
Fed is still there…not straightforward yet any for nole
How is fed gonna beat Nole?! Not wildly plausible..?
Rafa can beat Kyrgios provided he ups his level from his previous match (against Delbonis).
He needs to improve his ROS imo, 3/20 BP conversion rate is not going to cut it against Kyrgios. Anyway, Kyrgios won’t give him 20 BP chances I feel.
These days you never know which Rafa you will get. The big three are up and down these days, yes, Novak too! U just never know who will show up. Neither of them are crisp as before and the young players are getting much much better as time passes. I think this year is the last year either of them will win majors handily. Even FO is on the line as Rafa is no longer at his devastating best like before. I take Rafa’s matches one day at a time, its just not like it used to be anymore, sigh! But….
VAMOS, Rafa!!
Maybe this match battle tested federer and wakes him up to really challenge novak
Can anyone really beat Novak? His stats today were insane.
@ atul1958, no matter who comes up against Novak its just a formality!! Give Novak the trophy already!!!
Yeah, and Rafa’s draw is aweful!!! If Rafa was in his 20s then I would say yep he can do it, but at his age, nah! He may beat Kyrios but that is as far as it goes Im afraid!! Its best Rafa was the #2 seed! That’s y i hate this #1 badge for Rafa!! I would prefer if he wasn’t #1. Although if he was #2 he would still manage to have all those players in his half, sigh!
But then again, in tennis, anything can happen!!
Only Schwartzman left who could give Djoko a little bit of problems; if Djoko beats him, then I think none of Cilic or Raonic could stop Djoko. No one left in Fed’s quarter could beat Djoko imo, so I think Djoko again will reach the final.
Rafa or Medvedev to reach the final from the other half and Meddy to win it if he reaches the final, if not then Djoko to win against anyone else.
Why writing off rafa lucky. If rafa reaches final why can’t he do the unthinkable just like fed did vs rafa in 2017 ao. Nobody gave fed a chance then but he still did it. I think Rafa can too. Any streak has to end someday ..so will rafas losing streak against Novak on hc. The issue is rafa reaching the final. I think if he reaches final..he will come to play..it won’t be as straightforward as last year ..can be more like 2012
I feel if rafa reaches final..he will win it ..the issue is in reaching the final…i am not confident of that..
I would be soooo happy if Rafa beats Nole at the AO! To me then, he can just retire, lol!!!!
Does anyone else feel like Fed looked at times during the match like an old man? Like he looked like your average 38 year old at times? I haven’t felt this very often, but I really felt like I was seeing his age more than ever at times. It shouldn’t be surprising, honestly, but it just seemed more noticeable than usual to me.
The Australian heat can have that effect on you the older you get. It zaps all your energy.
Millman was on top form and is use to that kind of heat so it was a great effort to get the win.
It really wasn’t that hot here yesterday, the top was like 23-24, but by the time the match started at like 8:30pm it would’ve been like 18 degrees celsius (about 65F for all the Americans out there). Pretty mild weather.
At times, yes. Movement looked like Fed though, to me. Lots more errors than usual for Fed. Maybe he’s struggling with the balls still. Having them change so quickly as the gritty court scuffs them up probably plays havoc with his precision. Good job by him to pull out the win!